


The Shield

by birdlight



Series: The Starting Line [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier
Genre: Captain America Sam Wilson, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, M/M, Male Friendship, Memories, One Shot, POV Sam Wilson, Protective Sam Wilson, Sam Wilson Is a Good Bro, Slow Burn, Understanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-31 16:17:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21148604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdlight/pseuds/birdlight
Summary: Sam discovers why Bucky wants nothing to do with the Shield.Fourth in a Series of One-shots exploring the relationship between Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson.SamBucky 2019 Prompts-The Shield





	The Shield

He caught it in his gloved hand and held onto it. Catching it should have given him a feeling of satisfaction after all the hard work he had put into it but he felt he could do better. He threw it as hard as he could and it repeated the impossible. It sailed from his hand to a nearby wall, ricocheting to the far wall and back again.

Bucky came forward, slapping him on the back. “Told you could do it.”

“You and Steve never had to practice. You just...did it.”

“We have certain...advantages. This is all you.”

Sam held it out. “You want to try it?”

Bucky took a step back and held up his hands in mock surrender. “I only touch that in emergencies. Steve gave it to you.” He looked over at the targets. “Aim lower this time, and see what happens, but this time, pretend someone’s shooting at you. I can get out the air rifles, use some rubber bullets…”

“You can play with your toys later. This is my time.” Sam positioned the Shield again, taking his advice and aiming it lower. Once again between the force of his throw and its kinetic energy, it came back to him.

“You're really improving. I think you can use this for more than defensive moves from now on,” Bucky said. “That can knock someone out, but be careful, you can give someone a nasty cut with that thing, and I know how you don’t like hurting people…”

"I'll hurt them if I have to," Sam said, pretending his best to not care about Bucky's encouraging words, but the truth was he cared. A lot.

"And then you’ll patch them up," Bucky said. "Because you're Captain America."

“Shut up,” Sam said. He offered the Shield again. “Here, give it a throw.”

“I said no,” Bucky’s tone was a little more forceful this time.

“What’s wrong? You allergic to vibranium?”

Bucky made a face. “My arm is vibranium, remember?”

‘So what, here take it,” he said, pretending to drop it. Bucky didn’t fall for his bluff and it fell to the ground, making a loud clanging noise. Bucky winced at the sound and bit his lower lip. Sam knew pain when he saw it.

“I told you, just in emergencies, if you’re down or something, and you’re not going down,” Bucky said.

Sam kept his eyes on his face as he picked it back up again.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Bucky said.

“Like what?”

“You’ve got that look on your face, like your psychoanalyzing me or something.”

Sam let out a loud laugh. “I’m not a doctor. I’m just curious. Why don’t you want to touch the Shield? Didn’t Steve offer it to you first?”

“No, he knew better. Look, if we’re done here, I’ve got things to do.” He turned to walk away.

“No, you don’t. You just don’t want to talk about it.”

Bucky stopped and let out a sigh, He turned around, reminding Sam of the way he looked when he first saw him as Bucky Barnes and not the Winter Soldier. He reached out his hand and Sam handed the Shield over to him. He took it and turned it over, examining the bright colors and flipped it around, then turning in his hands like a steering wheel.

“I suppose you want me to talk about my feelings. This makes me feel…” he began, his voice breaking. His eyes shifted from the Shield to the ground.

“Guilty?” Sam supplied.

“Not exactly. Steve gave his Shield up for me, twice. The first time, I nearly beat him to death, which is not a pleasant memory, and the second…he had to choose between me and Tony and he picked me, which helped break you guys apart and the worst of all, Howard Stark made it. I knew him…” his voice started to break. “Steve knew, he understood. It means something different to me than it does to you.”

Sam didn’t hesitate to reach out and placed his hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I should have realized. That's not something to joke about.”

Bucky composed himself. He looked up at Sam and smiled. “You’re not omnipotent. You can’t know everything. For the record, as far as I’m concerned, you’re more like Steve than I am. You’re the best person to have this.”

Sam was suddenly aware of the fact his hand was still on his shoulder, and he didn’t want to move it, but he forced himself to take the Shield back.

“That’s nice of you to say,” Sam said.

“I mean it.”

A long uncomfortable silence followed. Something changed. Sam couldn’t explain what it was, but his friendship with Buck was turning into something else, he wasn’t sure what.

“Why don’t we go get a beer?” Bucky asked. “Forget all our troubles.”

“Drinking doesn’t affect you!” Sam exclaimed.

“I still like beer,” he said. “Or ice cream. Gallons of ice cream.”

“Some of us don’t have super metabolism,” Sam countered “Some of us are mere mortals.”

“But you’re the only mere mortal who can handle the Shield, and the only mere mortal who was asked to be Captain America.” Bucky countered, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Next time, we'll try it when you're using your wings. That should be fun." He was teasing him.

“Don’t call me Captain America,” Sam said. He wasn’t ready for the title but he accepted there was something affectionate in Bucky’s refusal to listen to him.

“Get used to it,” Bucky said, turning away. “You coming or not?”

“If I have to,” he retorted. He had no choice. There was a time in his life if he didn’t care what Bucky Barnes did but things had changed. He had to follow him.


End file.
